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ADVISORY: TRAVEL NOTES; Enhancing the Night Away On the Isle of Skye

By PAMELA KENT

Published: June 19, 2005

The dramatic landscape on the northeast peninsula of Trotternish on the Isle of Skye, off the northwest coast of Scotland, will be transformed this summer by a sound and light installation. Six nights a week at midnight, from Aug. 7 to Sept. 17, the Scottish environmental arts company NVA will guide around 150 people, equipped with headlamps and walking sticks, on a nighttime adventure through the wild, volcanic, rocky terrain leading to a 1,500-foot-high formation known as Old Man of Storr.

The sometimes strenuous journey of over two miles will follow a reflective-light network that will create a beautifully illuminated trail through the pinnacles and buttresses carved by glaciers during the largest ever mass-movement landslide in Britain. Hikers will be accompanied by recorded contemporary sounds from the Norwegian composer Geir Jenssen, poetry from the local poet Sorley MacLean and live Scottish songs drifting down from overhead ridges. NVA is hoping to enhance the experience of the landscape during the 90-minute to two-hour walk. Participants should be fit enough to walk at least two miles and be able to deal with a fairly rapid climb to almost 1,500 feet. For full details see www.nva.org.uk.

Groups check in between 10:30 and 11 p.m. at specified meeting points in Portree and nearby Staffin. They are transported to the start of the walk and between 1 and 2 a.m., are returned to the meeting points. Tickets cost $46 and can be ordered by mail or phone through the ticketing agency Aros, Viewfield Road, Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland IV51 9EU; (44-1478) 613750. PAMELA KENT

Photos (Photographs from Slight)

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